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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Top athletes to run in Nairobi 2010 meet

Weird News

By The Standard Sports | Jul 15, 2010

By Mutwiri Mutuota

Nairobi 2010 African Athletics Championships will not be a competition for slouches after final entries submitted from 35 countries featured some of the biggest stars in the sport.

At the same time, Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the event yesterday extended the entry deadline to Monday midday to give allowance to all 46 targeted countries to file in their lists.

Host Kenya’s bitter northern rivals, Ethiopia were among the continent’s powerhouses who sent a strong contingent for the event that starts less than a fortnight at Nyayo National Stadium led by their ‘baby faced assassin’ Tirunesh Dibaba.

The double Olympics 5,000m and 10,000m gold medallist as well as record holder is among the 85 competitors and 25 officials Ethiopia will send for the championships, where she has been entered in the shorter race.

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The 2008 World Indoor champion, Tariku Bekele, a younger brother of the feared Kenenisa who is out through injury will feature in the men’s 5,000m.

World 800m men’s champion, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi will spearhead South Africa’s squad of 30 entrants and ten officials, who will be without their women’s 800m Berlin gold medallist, Caster Semenya, who opted for the Commonwealth Games.

Africa 100m women’s titleholder, Oludamola Osayomi is among the 44 competitors and ten handlers Nigeria will send to Nairobi. The men’s 800m will be a tussle to watch after Sudan included two-time World Indoor champion, Abubaker Kaki Khamis in their party of 30 competitors and six officials.

Addressing the media yesterday, LOC chief executive, David Okeyo said: "Some countries do not have communication equipment at the level of others, we held a small meeting and decided to extend the deadline for submitting final entries to Monday and we informed Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) who have agreed to our request.

"If we get all the 46 countries that send in preliminary entries to confirm their final lists, then we will be very pleased."

Already, Botswana’s team is already in town together with Senegal’s advance party of seven competitors and some officials. Namibia were due in last evening as LOC pledged to avail an itinerary of arrivals for other nations. Among the countries that sent in their final lists, include Egypt, Morocco and Malawi, the nation that checked for Nairobi 2010 three months in advance.

Confirmed Entrants

Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Cape Verde, Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana (already here), Senegal, Comoros, Gambia, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Congo Brazzaville, Burundi, Gabon, Morocco, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Eritrea, Togo, Swaziland, Egypt, Liberia, Gambia, Benin, Central Africa Republic, Mauritius, Zambia, Malawi, Algeria and Tunisia.